Chinese New Year (CNY) really left an impact on my son. He was captivated by lion dancing, a passion he followed keenly by watching lion dancers strut their stuff on YouTube.
It wasn’t long before he clamoured to buy his own lion dance head. He has too many toys already, but his defence I don’t have a lion dance toy! was impenetrable in his mind. Eventually, my wife and I gave in.
I’m an unorthodox parent in the sense that I allow my son to spend his CNY ang bao money 🧧. He was informed that he would need to use his ang bao money, which he agreed enthusiastically. Oh, what do children know about money at their impressionable age?
We ordered a lion dance head online. From then on, he relentlessly asked when it would arrive. Every day, we would explain that it would take some time for the parcel to be shipped over from China. But his incessant questions never stopped.
The lion dance head arrived yesterday. Boy, was he overjoyed. He kept jumping up and down as I struggled to tear it apart. He gleefully held it in his hands, ecstatic to be acquainted with his new toy. He even generously shared it for a while with his baby sister - before taking back possession of it ofc. It was 35 bucks well spent for him.
This got me thinking. Where was the last time I really felt elated buying something? With all the logical talk of budgeting and focusing on needs, spending money has become a perfunctory exercise. Save to invest. Spend wisely. All these mantras have jostled the joy of spending out of my mind.
I hope my son never holds back from spending money on things he knows he will love ❤️. It’s part of being carefree.